Book 1, Chapter 2
-Part 12-
God created each of us. We can, of course, explain our existence in reproductive terms, which are miraculous in their own way. Christian theism does not limit itself to a natural explanation of our existence. Deeper truths are in place to state mankind’s place in the universe. We are created in the image of God. We are known in God’s mind before we are formed in the womb. We are individually indwelt by the Holy Spirit to be transformed into the likeness of Christ.
That is to say, God’s will includes who he wants us to be and what he wants us to do from moment to moment. His vision of us was formed in love before we were born, and includes how we will grow spiritually in this life, and what we will be like after our resurrection.
There are several thoughts coming together in this section to describe the formation of the Christian.
God’s idea or final design of each of us is an exemplar, archetype or model which we are being turned into as we move through our lives. We start out redeemable and transformable, and are not left without the Holy Spirit always drawing us toward the completeness found in redemption and transformation.
The psalmist refers to this marvelous close watch over which the Holy Spirit keeps us as God’s presence everywhere and God’s thoughts endlessly toward us. This rendering of Psalm 139 is but one example: “You created my inmost self, knit me together in my mother’s womb. For so many marvels I thank you; a wonder am I, and all your works are wonders. You knew me through and through, my being held no secrets from you, when I was being formed in secret, textured in the depths of the earth.” (vv. 13-15)
The Christian experiences this close watch by being continually pressed into conformity to God’s perfect and unique idea of him or her. There is an eternal, glorified completeness that awaits us after the resurrection – after which learning and growth will continue – and there is a more immediate “shape” that we should take in this and the next moment. This is known to God, and he uses all of his formative powers to work his further marvels upon us to better fit us for Christ-likeness now and for life in eternity.
Redemption and transformation are not only treasures that we will one day open, but they influence what we will say next, what we will do next, and the next step we will take today. These benefits and their influences are present in every moment, along with God’s perfect idea of our being and our response in that moment. Thus, each moment is sacred. Each is linked to the eternal wisdom of God as a means by which we are united with God and become more like him in character. The Orthodox Church calls this process “theosis.”
When we talk about conformity we have to be clear that we are talking about a personal acquiescence to God’s design for each of us as individuals. We are each to expect transformation into the image of Christ, but Christ will be expressed differently in each of us because each person is one of a kind.
John Paul II made this abundantly clear in his book, The Theology of the Body, in which he stated: “The person is unique and unrepeatable, someone chosen by Eternal Love.” (Page 65) We are each like a gemstone different from all others through which the same light passes, but uniquely so.
At the same time, the light that passes through us also changes us in ways that are mostly beyond us. We are very childish in our thinking if we believe we know everything that God is doing in us – in the inmost self that he created – or that we know what his completed idea of us is.
God continues his marvelous work upon us through his word as we have it in the Scriptures, and also through that particular presence of the Holy Spirit that the believer has been given.
We are, in a word, God’s artistry. “We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designed to make up our way of life” (Ephesians 2:10).
The word for workmanship is the Greek word poiema, which is the origin of the word “poem” (and the Latin poema). So work of art is no great stretch of the language, or an attempt to be romantic or overly ornate with the text, but is in fact most accurate.
What stops us from experiencing these truths to the depths of our being from moment to moment in our lives is a failure to yield – the lack of self-abandonment. The canvas, the stone, the liquid metal in a mould must give way to the artist, and do nothing to stay or interfere with his hand. We must be pliable in God’s capable hands.
Always concerned that we leave God in a book or in the appendix of world history, Caussade warns us to prefer God’s action upon us, and to hold steady for it:
“we admire and glorify god’s action in the books which describe his works, and when he is ready to continue them by writing them in our hearts we cannot keep the paper still on which he is to write, and we prevent his action by being curious to see what he is doing in us and in others.” (Page 40)
Our life, says Cassaude, is “divine substance” (page 40), and it is left unmarked or unfinished due to our neglect when we seek God in history instead of God in our fidelity to him in the moment. Catholic doctrine would tell us that we are failing to cooperate with the grace of God.
The material in this section could lead to pages and pages of response and reflection. Suffice it to say that Caussade sums his first book (there is a Book 2 to follow) in the last five words of this English translation, which is a banner under which all of us should want to pitch the tent of our little life of faith: “TO ALLOW THEE TO ACT.”
(In memory of my beloved son-in-law Jesse Salveson, 1987-2011, a true work of art and a gift to us from God.)
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